Explore my strategy, story, and portfolio built in public.

🎧 ETF or individual stocks?

On my way to work today, I was listening to a podcast where a listener asked a simple question: “Considering ETF's come with additional costs over stocks, is it better to buy an ETF, or buy the individual stocks inside it?” Simple question, but the answer isn't simple... An ETF gives you instant diversification. You don't have to decide which company will outperform, rebalance everything yourself, or spend hours following every earnings report and company update. You accept that some holdings will outperform and others won't, and you take the combined result of the basket. You take the good with the bad and for most ETF's you pay minimal extra cost. Costs vary per ETF, but are transparent and easy to find. (Taxation is also a topic to look into...) Buying individual stocks is different. You can allocate more capital to the companies you believe have the strongest potential, avoid businesses you don't like, and potentially outperform the ETF. But you also accept more company-specific risk and one large position moving against you can have a much bigger impact. However stock picking is more risky as you'll have to follow up on the companies, review their earning, keep track of their earnings and investments., ... In the end I think it comes down to what kind of investor you want to be, what you're risk tolerance is and how much time you're willing to spend on staying up to date. If you’re the person who still asks the question, my advice would be to stay with ETF's and maybe copy someone or use money that you'll not mis when you lose it, but expect to put time in it. How I'm approaching this: With an ETF, you're mainly choosing a market, sector or theme. With individual stocks, you're also relying on your ability to select the stronger companies within it. I'm actually applying both approaches in my own portfolio. Over time, I'm slowly building a more stable core consisting of multiple ETFs. My goal is to eventually have at least one-third of the portfolio spread across several ETFs, while keeping the remaining part available for individual companies where I see stronger opportunities. That should give the portfolio a broader foundation, while still leaving enough room for active stock selection and higher-conviction positions. So for me, the answer isn't really ETF or individual stocks. It's about finding the right balance between the two. Do you prefer ETFs, individual stocks, or a combination of both? 👇 $SXR8.DE $IEMA.L

The last four months have been rough...

Our portfolio has taken a serious hit, but the underlying businesses aren’t deteriorating at the same pace. $NIO is improving margins, $OUST is growing strongly, $HSAI remains profitable, and $XYZ has raised its outlook. The main pressure is macro: high bond yields, sticky inflation, expensive oil and higher-for-longer interest rates. That environment hits growth names especially hard and that's exactly where we're at. What I’m watching now is a peak in Treasury yields, a less hawkish Fed, lower oil prices and stronger Chinese consumer demand. I’m not abandoning the strategy because of a difficult few months. But this period is a good reminder that position sizing matters just as much as conviction. Right now, I still see this more as a hostile market environment than a portfolio full of broken companies. For copiers with the same long-term view, I’d rather avoid trying to guess the exact bottom. Holding makes sense if your conviction and risk tolerance haven’t changed, while anyone looking to increase exposure could consider spreading additions over the coming months instead of going all-in at once. That reduces timing risk if volatility continues before conditions improve. If you’re feeling the market pressure, don't forget it's about the long term, we've been in this downhill/idle trend as of last year, while the performance of our companies have been improving a lot. Once investor confidence returns we will...

𝗠𝗶𝗱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄

The most difficult aspect of investing is in my opinion the emotional aspect of it, the last few weeks have been extremely frustrating, so I've been chewing over the last 365 days as a Popular Investor. In a nutshell I consider my portfolio performance disappointing, I’m not happy with it. But I need to be realistic and put things in perspective. The result is still comparable to, and possibly a bit better than, what many traditional bank funds are delivering. Another thing that assures me that my performance is not that horrible is that I see some of the elite pro investors on the platform with a similar or worse performance, these are people I look up to and have much more experience and time to analyze the market. So while my performance is below what I was hoping for, it is not something that should make me question everything. My long-term confidence in the companies I hold is still there. A weaker stretch like this can be frustrating, but it does not automatically change the bigger picture for me. I still see strong potential in the businesses and themes I’m invested in, from advanced mobility and next-generation energy to robotics. I never built this portfolio around a short-term view, and that part has not changed. A large part of the portfolio is in companies where execution risk is high. Names like $NIO, SMR, SLDP and AEVA could do very well if they scale successfully, but they can also disappoint for a long time if growth comes in slower than expected, margins remain weak, or funding gets tighter. There is also competition risk across several positions. PayPal, Klarna, eToro, Ouster, $Hesai and Block are all operating in crowded markets. Good products and a strong story are not enough on their own. These companies still need to defend market share, improve profitability and deal with regulation, pricing pressure and serious competition. Macro and geopolitical risk are also still there. Chinese exposure can offer upside, but it also brings uncertainty around regulation, sentiment and trade policy. And if rates stay higher for longer, growth-oriented names can continue to feel that pressure. On a more personal note, I’m also in the process of selling a rental property. I’ve grown tired of the responsibility that comes with it, and when I compare the return with the time, effort and mental load involved, an average yearly yield of around 7% simply feels less attractive to me than what I believe I can achieve over time through investing. Yes the risk cannot be compared and there’s the additional leverage of a cheap mortgage, but for me it's just... I'm still confident enough in my strategy to double down. So yes, the YTD result is not where I want it to be, but I’m still comfortable with the direction, I still believe in the companies I own, and I’m still willing to give the thesis time to play out. For all of you who gave me or your trust or are still here, thank you. If you have any comments, remarks or points of improvement, feel free to leave them in the comments. I appreciate your feedback. 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 | 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 | 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴.